The Phantom Masterpiece

Hello, my fellow Star Wars fans. I am Omasi Upad and this is my much obliged review of 'The Phantom Menace' as well an indepth analysis of myth and meaning. I did not notice any threads to post reviews or the like among this forum so I do hope this is not redundant, out of place or frowned upon in anyway; If so, then I apologize deeply. If I am right then perhaps we can use this thread as a general cenus for reviews and general input on Episode 1 of the legendary saga. Now with that out of the way...shall we begin?


Last night; I decided I'd sit down to watch 'The Phantom Menace' and boy did I enjoy it! I loved it so much I felt I needed a whole world who shuns this picture to realize its utter brillance. This film is truly becoming a classic all its own year by year. It is fairy-tale, space-fanasty adventure drama and story-telling at its absolute greatest and ages like a fine wine the more you watch it over and over. A subtle gem and wholly entertaning presentation with very few flaws, if any. (Name any flaw and I shall rebutt them. Try me.) It moved me and made me think. I laughed, I cheered, I giddied with glee, I cried and sobbed, feared and revered. Very few movies can cover the breadth of the emotional plane in a two hour piece, but by golly does 'The Phantom Menace' deliver. The story is solid. The characters are interesting and different. The acting is perfect and the writing is memorable and magnificent if I may say so myself. Music is divine. Sound effects are realistic and creative and fits the world. Costumes are out of this universe yet classic and stunning. The special effects were a milestone of 1999 (curse the academy for not giving Episode 1 a reward for VFX!). Pacing and editing, work (abeit too fast at times). Wonderful casting. Overal a landmark of a film and a perfect introduction to a superficial saga. The Phantom Menace is a masterpiece and I have come here to show you why. So sit back, relax and enjoy Omasi Upad's indepth analysis of: 'Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace'.


The Phantom Masterpiece

By Omasi Upad


Where to begin? First off; The title is genious. Mysterious, deep, dark, interesting and maybe a bit spooky and at the same time fits the cheesy Flash Gorden esque aura of the movies. Ideal to garner attention from a new viewer and entice old. The film starts off with the infamous: 'A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.' (Which basically tells us: this is not science fiction, this is a fairy tale fantasty tale where fun, emotion and drama crown over logic). Suddenly the screen explodes into the timless STAR WARS opening crawl and music. Now the opening crawl I must say is a bit of a let down for the viewers very first indoctrine into the saga (if viewed in 1-6, which is the natural order now). Turmoil has enguled a Galatic Republic we never even heard of before so it may not even register in people's minds and not even be enough to have the viewer care (but after the movie is over, that may change). It does set up the fact that there is a Galatic Republic and that it is in turmoil, though certaintly not in great detail but Star Wars never had a ham-fisted narrative anyway. It works as a documentary of another universe where things are just caught on camera and we have to make sense of them ourselves which allows the auidience to 'think' and fill in the blanks themselves and this can make the movies communtive and vague which generates alot of debate (as we can surely see from this forum). True art does this. Then it goes on to talk about taxation and trade routes and how the 'greedy' Trade Federation has blocked all trade to and from the 'small' planet of Naboo with their 'deadly' battleships. Alright, this creates fear or dislike for the Trade Federation who function as the 'bad guys' for most of the trilogy and sets up the overriding plot of the movie. Last paragraph here now establishes 'congress' and how they are slowled down with procedures (an important plotpoint) which prompts the Supreme Chancellor to 'secretly' dispatch tw

 

Very nicely written.

Welcome to the boards, I'm glad to see another person here who appreciates TPM for its greatness

 

Greedily awaits next update.

 

I like what you have written. It was very interesting. Good to see others manage to see TPM as the masterpiece that it truly is!

 

Well, for me ANH & TPM are my 2 favorite SW movies bar none. I have long said that TPM has the most brilliant story of all 6 films. It is just a great movie. I'll bet if some people haven't seen it for a while if they pop it in they'll see how great it is now that all 6 films are done.

 

TPM was great, but it had the potential to be so much better. GL got carried away with what were initially good ideas. The podrace was exciting, but did it need to be 10 minutes? Jar-Jar was okay for most of his scenes, but why did we need his stupid antics in what is supposed to be a sweeping, epic, battle? The movie had a rousing start, but the tatooine scenes dragged on for too long. The control ship space battle had the potential to be much better.

 

Omasi_Upad - Star Wars fandom needs more of people like you, especially in these times when it appears deeply uncool to like the PT and you get shot down in flames by the idiotic bashers who think that their opinions are always right and everyone else should also think like them and indeed know more about Star Wars and movie making than Lucas himself.
Bravo sir!

 

I must agree with Whizkid about JarJar.


George got to carried away. Jar Jar might actually have worked, for me anyways, if he had been used more sparingly. I actually found Jar Jar amusing in the underwater scene were he panics because of the lack of fuel and the leak causing water to get into their submarine, but I was really annjoyed when JarJar accidently destroys not 1 or 2 but 3 battledroids.


Concerning the Podrace I have to admit that I loved every bit of it.

 

WOW! Outstanding post.

Re. The title. The Phantom Menace is actually my favourite title in the whole series. It was such a surprise when the title of Episode I was announced in 1998 and it was unlike anything I had ever anticipated - Yet unlike most people, I sat down and actually THOUGHT about the title and what it was saying, and I instantly fell in love with it. It has so much meaning and depth. It does have a creepy feeling about it and yet theres very much that sense of Flash Gordon. Awesome title.

 

All these years later and I still fail to understand how anyone could accuse the podrace sequence of being too long. The extended DVD version is too long, however the theatrical version is exactly as long as it needs to be.

The purpose of the podrace was to 1) Get them the ship parts they needed, 2) Help establish Anakin's skills as a pilot, and 3) do it in an exciting way. The race succeeds on all three of these levels.

If the race were shorter it would 1) lack tension, 2) fail to be much of an auto race, and 3) fail to underscore the high level of danger and sacrifice that Anakin has put himself through for the sake of his new friends.

The Podrace takes place about midway through the film, and there it is a worthy centerpiece for to the movie.

-Ceel

 

People who didn't like TPM imo aren't really star wars fans, and it seems to me that many of them also knock ANH.

Maybe I'm in the minority, maybe not, but if you don't like the two movies which IMO best represent the series for what it is, fun, exciting and a bit innocent, then it is very difficult to enjoy the story.

 

I totally agree. While the DVD version extended lap 2 and extended introduction of the racers is interesting it makes the Pod race slightly too long. The theatrical cut is perfect and I wish that version existed on DVD as well).

 

I love the podrace and the DVD version is in no way too long I think.

The soundtrack is great for the podrace.

 

I agree to a point. I never like use of "not really a fan", as it's a below-the-belt shot at someone for not having the same opinion as you.

!snap

 

Episode 1 is a really great movie, it is one of the movies I always watch.

 

Fair enough and it wasn't meant that way.

I would change the wording if i could because of how you took that.

The way i meant it is that those fans don't enjoy the story in a "unconditional love" sense and are looking for more than is there.

I wasn't trying to take a low shot at someone, it's a poor choice of words on my part, probably because i've read the phrase so often.

 

I'm going to have to disagree. I think Ep.1 is a complete waste of time. The saga could start with Ep.2 and be none the worse. Ep2 should have been Ep1. Ep3 should have been Ep2, but without ALL of the jedi getting killed. Ep3 should have been Vader hunting down the remaining jedi (Mace, Fisto, Mundi, Secura, etc.) and wiping them all out until only Yoda and Ben are left. The Phantom Menace is the worst movie in the whole series, if you ask me.

 

TPM has only gotten better with time. I enjoy it immensely whenever I throw it in the DVD player. It is a lot like ANH in the way that it is a fun and innocent movie


TPM was and always will be a blast!

 

I don't even know where to begin.

!snap

 

Ah, the classic basher line: "Ep3 should have been Vader hunting down the remaining jedi"

 

I love how with each new prequel's release, all the other episodes in the saga have been made better and better. Once Episode III came out, it all fell together like a jigsaw puzzle for me. I'm not saying every single loose end was tied up or anything like that - I don't feel they need to be. My point is that I loved Episode I when it was first released (it's what made me a Star Wars fan), and that I agree that it has only gotten better with time.

I also really love the title. It may be my favorite in the series, for all the reasons previously mentioned.

I think Jar Jar's antics border on excessive at times, but as I said earlier, Episodes II and III made them more meaningful (if it's even appropriate to use that word for them). The lighthearted tone he had in Episode I was greatly subdued as darkness began to overtake the galaxy in Episode II, and the last time we see him he's in a funeral procession at the darkest time for the galaxy in the saga. He sort of encapsulates the descent the prequels take in mood.

EDIT: Edited for structure.

 

Me neither.

 

How about "I don't have a good answer for this, so I'll post something else that's lame."

??

 

master_doodoo, i've taken notice of many of your post lately, and if anyone else has they have obviously noticed that you are not happy with the way the prequels were handled. this is a forum and that is your opinion and it is more than welcomed here, but there is no need to make a statement as bold and bland as "ep. 1 is a complete waste of time" and then be offended when people see your post as simply mundane bashing. again, we are all entitled our opinions though.

 

Alright, but everybody can put up posts like "Sigh" and "Don't know where to start". Those don't help. I like the 2nd two movies. I just think they were rushed because of the first one, which doesn't do anything significant except introduce Anakin. I hear what you're saying, though. I don't mean to sound like I hate the first movie. I just think they didn't need to dilly dally so long. Some Sith Training (to counter the jedi training in ep.5) would have been cool, too.